Dodai Stewart

Much unlike many a magazine editor who recommends you buy all sorts of crap that they most likely got for free, your Jezebel staff doesn't get jack shit (other than books, unsolicited). And that's how it should be. But on our own time, in our personal lives, we still buy stuff. So this is Worth It, our recommendation of random things that we've actually spent our own money on. These are the things we buy regularly or really like, things we'd actually tell our friends about. And now we're telling you.

Springtime in New York is a truly glorious thing; the dilapidated brick concrete and glass urban jungle looks fresh and cinematic and new with longer days full of sunshine. And the flowers! From Central Park's blooming trees to rose-choked community gardens on the Lower East Side to Park Avenue's tulips to the daffodil-dotted residential side streets of Uptown, flowers are such a colorful, bright and lovely sight to behold after the chilly gray winter.

A city kid, I didn't grow up gardening, and I'm not really into plants. I mean, I'll maintain a succulent now and then, but eventually I forget to water them and they pass on to that great big greenhouse in the sky. But I love, love, love flowers, both faux and freshly cut. I got into the habit of wearing a flower in my hair when I lived near a corner store that sold roses; I'd buy just one as I was heading out and stick it behind my ear.

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And in my apartment (seen above and at left!), I love bunches of flowers in vases. White tulips in the bathroom somehow make it seem cleaner. Alstromeria are usually crazy cheap — like $4 a bunch — and also look good in the bathroom or bedroom. Recently, my friend Jennifer came to visit and bought me some peonies, and as they opened up I became obsessed with creating a little vingette on my table, and photographing the blooms as they changed from day to day. I Instagrammed the crap out of those flowers. I'd come home and see them waiting there, gigantic and vivid and gorgeous. It sounds silly, but it was a real mood-lifter. The simple pleasure of gazing at flowers. So: Your homework? Buy yourself some flowers today. Or, if you have a garden, bring some blooms inside. (And give some away to a non-garden-having slob like myself!) No matter where you live, how crappy your hovel, you can bring some pretty, colorful, natural delightfulness into your life for 10 bucks or less. Definitely worth it.

Worth It only features things we paid for ourselves and actually like. Don't send us stuff.